This past weekend I found myself in Portland and whenever I find myself in a new town, I have to check out all their various record shops. My good friend Shaun told me to check out 2nd Ave Records, right in downtown Portland and I will have to second his recommendation as that place was good times. A great selection of vinyl, nicely organized and categorized including 2 very large Punk/Hardcore and Metal sections. I managed to snag a bunch of great finds including some vinyl copies of new releases that have already seen my seal of approval in these pages (Pissed Jeans' "King of Jeans" and Destroyer's "Bay of Pigs"), the new album from Austin, Texas' kings of underground thrash-y hardcore, Iron Age (more on them in future installments I'd wager), and a few other things at great prices (and sans sales tax, WOO-HOO Oregon).
One thing I found on vinyl that I've seen a few times before but have never been inclined to pick up (until now that is) is perhaps the biggest gaff in recent record indstury history, that being Sleep's "Dopesmoker" album. For those not familiar, Sleep were an amazing stoner metal trio (having practically revolutionized the genre) from the Bay Area who released one of metal's most heralded albums of the 90s, 1992's "Holy Mountain." Having garnered a ton of attention after that album's release, the group (who after their breakup, went on to found other great metal acts High on Fire and Om) found themselves with a major label deal in front of their faces. What did they proceed to do? Write and record "Dopesmoker", a single song that has a running time of 61 minutes. Needless to say, the song/album was never released in its true form, the band were dropped and eventually broke up. Years later, the album found a proper release via Tee Pee Records which included a vinyl release of the song stretched across 4 sides of 180 gram vinyl, sounding just as amazing and heavy (amazingly heavy!) as it was intended to be. Certainly not for everyone, if the thought of listening to a 60 minute long song seems daunting, definitely check out "Holy Mountain" as this band is legendary amongst the underground metal community for a reason. You can find either album pretty quickly and easily through torrents nowadays so I'm not going to directly link you to it, but here's a pretty sweet Sleep tribute page on myspace that will give you an idea of what you should be getting yourself into.
It was only a few months back that I first heard of Matt & Kim, a Brooklyn-based duo who play really catchy pop tunes with only the aid of a drum kit (Kim) and keyboard (Matt). I don't know why I ignored them for so long as I saw interviews with them popping up, heard rave reviews of their infectious, energy-filled live show and was even told of their greatness by one of my good friends, Josh. It wasn't until recently, when a video of the duo playing the lead off track from their new album 'Grand' on Jimmy Kimmell Live was posted on various blogs I read that I actually took the time to listen... and it was about time. The song is called "Daylight" and it's 3 minutes of lo-fi pop goodness, a catchy synth hook paired with a steady headbob inducing beat and Matt's charmingly underdog vocals. There's a great page you can check out below that has the music video for said song as well as some links (along the ride hand side) where you can stream and/or download that song, in addition to some others and give these two a shot. I can't say from first hand experience, but I've been lead to believe that their live shows are a blast and hopefully one day I can check it out for myself.
I can distinctly remember the first time I heard of Band of Horses, the South Carolina by way of Seattle indie rock group who show flourishes of country, folk and full on southern rock influences along the way. It was a mix tape that a friend of mine made for my birthday and she included their standout song "The Funeral" on it. Little did I know that this group would go on to release 2 ridiculously great albums, 2006's "Everything All the Time" and 2007's "Cease to Exist", both of which have found a place in my permanent collection. I also didn't think it would take me so long to finally get around to seeing them live (a previous attempt at doing so in July '07 fell flat on its face when tickets sold out before I was able to get one), but I finally managed to do so this past friday night at Vancouver's famous Commodore Ballroom... and it was everything I had hoped for.
Opening with the lead off track from their first album, titled appropriately enough "The First Song" and ending with their cover of "Am I A Good Man", the b-side of a recent 7" single, what came between was a great mix of songs from both albums as well as 3 or 4 new songs that all sounded quite good, albeit a tad more on the country side of things. The one thing that surprised me was how popular the band were, not just selling out the Commodore (which has a capacity of just under 1,000) but filling it with people who were singing along at the top of their lungs on some of their more famous songs. The best example of this was during their third number, "Is There A Ghost?" (from 'Cease to Exist'), the crowd singing along to the chorus was deafening. Another nice live flourish was a complete reworking of "Detlef Schrempf", normally a really beautiful, low-key song but in this particular live setting was turned into an upbeat country stomper that had the crowd smiling and singing along. A new album is in the works (which may or may not be titled "My Rainbow") with no real release date announced, so unfortunately I have nothing new to share with you but check out their myspace page anyways which has some of their standout tracks available for streaming in addition to some of their music videos embedded for your viewing pleasure. And believe me, once the new album hits the streets and these guys hit the road once again, you owe it to yourself to check them out in a live setting.
Readers of this blog should be somewhat familiar with King Khan, the Germany by way of Montreal based garage rocker who most famously fronts the magnificient "King Khan & The Shrines", one of the most fantastic live acts I've ever seen. The reason I say that you should be familiar with him is because in addition to that band, he splits his time between some others including The Almighty Defenders (see: Danielage vol. 1), and his other collaboration with good friend Mark Sultan aka The King Khan & BBQ Show. On top of the upcoming September release of the debut album from The Almighty Defenders, King Khan has been busy working on his latest album avec BBQ, titled "Invisible Girl" due out November 23rd on In The Red, another great indie label that has brought us other lo-fi garage rock acts like Jay Reatard and The Black Lips. The first song to see the light of day is the title track from the album, featuring a nice steady beat and a great, catchy refrain reminiscent of the garage and doo-wop roots that these guys are known for. If this song is any indication, I for one can't wait for the full length to drop this fall *PLUS* as you can see below, the album artwork is simultaneously ridiculous and great (ridiculously great!)... give the track a download and see for yourself.
I'm gonna end things on a rad note this week, because as of late I've had the Pixies on the brain. For those not familiar, the Pixies are an awesome, Boston based college rock band from the 80s who released classic album upon classic album and influenced an entire generation of bands to keep their verses quiet and their choruses EXTRA LOUD. *Ahem*, as I was saying... I don't really need to speak much of the greatness of the Pixies, download their entire discography and go from there. Hell, all their records are easy enough to find on CD and have even recently been re-issued on vinyl so pick them up. The reason I bring them up is threefold: 1) I recently engaged in a conversation with a friend of mine about their 2004 reunion tour which both of us attended (he in Montreal, myself in Vancouver), bringing back fantastic memories of spending way too much money on a scalped ticket so I was able to witness one of my favourite bands live at the venue (once again, The Commodore Ballroom) where they had last played when they broke up all those years ago (1992). 2) The band is back on tour this fall, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark release, "Doolittle" by playing it in its entirety at select shows around North America (including a pair of dates in Seattle which I'll hopefully be able to check out). 3) A new reader of mine recently attended her first Pixies gig which also brought back some good memories for me. So in honour of all those things, I figured I'd post a Pixies video for all to see. Not that the Pixies were really known for their music videos, but the few that they did make had some creative ideas, especially when it came to the use of unique photography. I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that my favourite video of theirs is for their cover (as Frank Black slurs) of "[The] Jesus & Mary Chain song" 'Head On' which they released as a part of their last album "Trompe Le Monde" but it is so here you go, Enjoy!
I'm gonna end things on a rad note this week, because as of late I've had the Pixies on the brain. For those not familiar, the Pixies are an awesome, Boston based college rock band from the 80s who released classic album upon classic album and influenced an entire generation of bands to keep their verses quiet and their choruses EXTRA LOUD. *Ahem*, as I was saying... I don't really need to speak much of the greatness of the Pixies, download their entire discography and go from there. Hell, all their records are easy enough to find on CD and have even recently been re-issued on vinyl so pick them up. The reason I bring them up is threefold: 1) I recently engaged in a conversation with a friend of mine about their 2004 reunion tour which both of us attended (he in Montreal, myself in Vancouver), bringing back fantastic memories of spending way too much money on a scalped ticket so I was able to witness one of my favourite bands live at the venue (once again, The Commodore Ballroom) where they had last played when they broke up all those years ago (1992). 2) The band is back on tour this fall, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark release, "Doolittle" by playing it in its entirety at select shows around North America (including a pair of dates in Seattle which I'll hopefully be able to check out). 3) A new reader of mine recently attended her first Pixies gig which also brought back some good memories for me. So in honour of all those things, I figured I'd post a Pixies video for all to see. Not that the Pixies were really known for their music videos, but the few that they did make had some creative ideas, especially when it came to the use of unique photography. I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that my favourite video of theirs is for their cover (as Frank Black slurs) of "[The] Jesus & Mary Chain song" 'Head On' which they released as a part of their last album "Trompe Le Monde" but it is so here you go, Enjoy!
I am sure that you are aware of this, but King Khan & BBQ Show are coming to town on the 23rd of November at the Red Room.
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